Man says undercover cops beat, choked him unconscious

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GRAND RAPIDS, MI - A 23-year-old man says he was tackled and choked unconscious by two undercover officers, and that another officer ordered bystanders to delete video of the incident.

James King claimed he thought he was being mugged when a plainclothes Grand Rapids Police detective and FBI special agent asked for his identification and held him against an unmarked SUV on July 18, 2014. He said didn't know the men were law enforcement.

King, who wasn't the man police were seeking, says he tried to run but was assaulted during a chaotic, confusing scene described in a lawsuit filed Monday, April 4, in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids. King is represented by attorney Patrick Jaicomo, of the firm Miller Johnson.

The lawsuit also brings tort claims against the U.S. government under the Federal Tort Claims Act for assault, battery, false arrest, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

A jail booking photo shows swelling to King's face, and other pictures contained in the lawsuit show the whites of his eyes turned almost completely red and black.

For the incident, King was charged with assaulting/resisting/obstructing an officer causing injury, felonious assault and assaulting/resisting/obstructing an officer. A jury acquitted him of all counts following a trial in February 2015.

King is seeking compensatory and punitive money damages, as well as attorney fees.

King was walking to work on Leonard Street NW near Tamarack Avenue when he encountered Allen and Brownback leaning against a black SUV. The men were in plainclothes, unshaven and wearing baseball caps.

Allen and Brownback were members of a West Michigan fugitive task force looking for a man wanted for home invasion, who had been spotted in the area the day before.

The lawsuit claims investigators were going off a broad description: A 26-year-old white male with glasses between 5 feet 10 and 6 feet 3 inches tall. They were referring to an old driver's license photo, as well as a Facebook photo that didn't offer a good view of the suspect's face.

King, who was 21 and a college student at the time, fit the general height description and was wearing glasses, but he didn't bear a resemblance to the photographs.

The lawsuit says Allen and Brownback didn't identify themselves as police. They wore lanyards with badges, but King couldn't read what the badges said.

King gave his first name when Allen asked who he was. Allen then asked for identification, to which King responded he didn't have any. Brownback patted King's pants and asked why he had a wallet.

The lawsuit states King complied when the officers told him to get against the SUV and put his hands behind his head.

Allen and Brownback later stated under oath that they were arresting King "because he did not produce identification or answer their questions," Jaicomo wrote in the lawsuit.

Brownback removed King's wallet. The lawsuit claims one of the men shoved his face toward the SUV when he tried to turn his head to see what was happening.

"At that point, James believed he was being mugged and asked, 'Are you mugging me?' Rather than answer, Brownback grabbed James's arm. James turned and ran. He made it about three steps before Allen and Brownback tackled him to the ground," Jaicomo wrote.

King yelled for passersby to call police. The lawsuit states Brownback restrained him while Allen put him in a chokehold from behind until he went unconscious.

King regained consciousness and, "in a panicked attempt to save his own life," bit Allen in the arm that was around his neck. The lawsuit claims Allen then started rapidly beating him in the head and face.

Uniformed officers arrived after several bystanders called police. Their dash camera videos recorded conversations during the aftermath.

Bystanders' videos also recorded these exchanges but didn't show the altercation. One bystander remarked the officers were "pounding his head for no reason. They were being brutal," the lawsuit says.

Two bystanders said King didn't know Brownback and Allen were law enforcement until they walked across the street during the struggle to ask what was happening. They said Brownback "threw out his wallet" and said he was with the FBI.

"Before we knew they were undercover, we thought they were going to kill him; they were bad," a bystander is recorded saying, according to the lawsuit.

After the incident, dash camera video recorded King telling an officer he thought Brownback and Allen were trying to mug him. He said he didn't have any weapons.

"Please guys, is he a real police?" King asked an officer, who told him to stay on his stomach and that an ambulance was on the way.

King was transported to the emergency room and later booked into the Kent County Jail.

The lawsuit accuses Grand Rapids Police Officer Connie Morris, a uniformed officer who responded, of ordering several bystanders to delete video of the incident, telling them it was for the safety of the undercover officers. At least two people deleted video.

The lawsuit claims she told bystanders: "All we used to do was tell the story; we didn't have a picture to tell the story with, right? Did you delete it? ... We don't need no pictures."

"Because of Morris's actions, no video of the actual struggle between Allen and Brownback and James was ever discovered," Jaicomo said.

The lawsuit says King's family spent their life savings on legal counsel for the criminal case. The incident led the Alpena native to drop out of Grand Valley State University, where he studied computer science. He's now working to become an electrician.